


The Blood is Rare and Sweet as Cherry Wine

by Floral_Virgo_Mess



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Allison and Klaus are great, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Domestic Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Gen, Leonard sucks, Luther is only slightly an asshole, Multi, My First Fanfic, Not Beta Read, Physical Abuse, Sibling Bonding, Strong Language, Vanya Hargreeves-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2020-04-06 06:54:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19057492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Floral_Virgo_Mess/pseuds/Floral_Virgo_Mess
Summary: "He loves me; he can just be a little overprotective sometimes.""That isn't love, he's controlling you; you just don’t know it yet."------------------------------------------------------------------------------Leonard has been Vanya's rock ever since they met. He is the only one who has stayed with her and made her feel more than just ordinary. However, after the death of her father, being reunited with her siblings could change everything.





	1. Chapter:1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do NOT and will never own The Umbrella Academy. I also do NOT own the song "Cherry Wine" by Hozier.  
> This fic is NOT advocating for domestic violence, nor is it trying to make light of what victims and survivors are going through or have went through. This is simply just a "what if" scenario. Just making that clear.

“I’m sorry.”

The meek whisper was almost nonexistent compared to the loud clash of glass breaking and furniture being knocked over.

“You don’t _seem_ sorry!” His voice rises with each word that leaves his mouth.” I’ve sat here waiting for you to come home and all you can do is sit there and _cry_!”

Leonard gets closer to Vanya who is seated at the table of empty plates. She had been caught-up at rehearsals, making her late to her set curfew. _I should have known better_ , she thinks to herself, keeping her eyes glued to the chipped wood of the table. She twiddles her fingers together nervously as Leonard looms over her, not knowing what actions he would take to “fix” her disobedience.

“Look at me.” Leonard demands, voice cutting through the brief silence.

Vanya obeyed, knowing his anger would only grow as each second passed. Leonard crouched down so that they were eye-level.

“ _Pathetic_ ,” he spits,” I should have locked you out and left you on the street with how little you respect me.” He points and accusing finger in her face,”-but I was gracious enough to let you in, because I know you wouldn’t survive a _day_ without me.”

He stands, taking one more look at her, before stomping heavily to their shared room. Vanya hears the door slam, followed by the click of the lock, confirming that she was not welcome to join him. She sets up pillows and a blanket on the living room couch. She hugs a pillow close to her chest while tears slide down her cheeks, trying to hold back sobs.

 She thinks of the past, before everything took a turn. Leonard was a sweet man. They shared many interests and supported each other through everything. He was her best friend. For once she felt loved and payed attention to. It wasn’t until they moved in together that things began to change. Leonard became very possessive and controlling, to the point where he had to know where she was at all times of the day. He even managed to put a tracker in her violin case, to make sure she wasn’t going anywhere other than rehearsal and home.

Vanya excused all of this, however. Leonard has talked about his troubled childhood before, and Vanya just pinned all of his hurtful words as him just trying to work through his emotions. She felt wrong in judging him due to her own upbringing. Besides, she is a part of the reason he acts this way.

He always tells her that she is ungrateful and doesn’t deserve him so it must be true. Vanya can’t even think of leaving him. After the book, she lost all connections with her siblings (not that they had great ones to begin with). Leonard is all she has. The one person that loves her. She _knew_ he had to love her because even when he said he would leave her; he would stay anyway.

 _I should be grateful_ , Vanya thinks to herself as she turns on the T.V. and settles down onto the couch. The news is on, but before she can turn the channel a familiar face pops into the screen.

“Dad?” Vanya questions quietly.

She had made sure that the volume was off before she had pressed the on button, but the headline was all she needed to see.

_‘Billionaire Reginald Hargreeves Found Dead in Home’_

“Shit.” She whispers to herself in shock.

Vanya never had a good relationship with the man, losing all contact with him the second she left the house at age 18. Seeing his face again was almost surreal. The memory of him brought back memories of her childhood. Of how she was never good enough for him or the Academy.

 Just ordinary.

In that moment Vanya wonders if her siblings had gotten the news yet, and how they would react. She sighed and turned the T.V. back off, deciding to call it a night; the picture of her fathers’ emotionless face fresh on her mind.


	2. Chapter:2

Now this wasn’t something she would have expected.

Vanya stares down at the letter in her hand shocked and confused. It was a letter requesting her presence to the spreading of her father’s ashes on March 24th. Tomorrow. She was, of course, very surprised to see her name on something that came in the mail, as Leonard was usually the one who’s name was seen on the envelopes. Even then, she certainly wasn’t expecting to have been sent anything from her family.

Yet, here she sat, on the stairs waiting for Leonard to get home; the letter dangling loosely between her fingertips. Dreading the conversation that they would have when he did finally come home.

Leonard never particularly liked her leaving the house unless he thought it was absolutely necessary. He would tell her that her leaving wasn’t needed. That she should be at home, happily waiting for his arrival. So, that is what she’s doing, in hopes that maybe he would give her this one time to leave for something other than work.

The jingle of keys snapped Vanya out of her thoughts and she got up from her place on the stairs. She stood shakily as Leonard opened the door, bags of groceries hanging from both of his arms. Vanya sprang into action, helping remove some of the bags from his arm and bringing them into the kitchen. Setting her bags down on the counter, she began putting away the items, in hopes of keeping him in a good mood, until she could bring up the topic at hand. Once she finished, she waited patiently as Leonard put the rest of the items he had away, letter still in hand.

Leonard finally stood back up and looked over to Vanya, who was standing nervously across the room, shuffling her feet. He looked at her confused, seeing the price of paper in her grasp.

“What the hell is that?” He questioned, annoyance bubbling up inside him. “I thought I told you not to touch the mail until I’m home.”

“I saw my name on it so I just- “, Vanya tried justifying herself, before being cut off by a rough hand in her hair.

Vanya let out a gasp as Leonard dragged her by her hair, forcing her into a chair. Immediately after his grip loosened, her hands shot up to the now tender spot atop her head. Strands of her hair could be seen stuck on Leonard’s hand as he grabbed the chair next to hers, roughly pulling it out and taking a seat. They sit in tense silence for a minute or two; Leonard drags a hand down his face and sighs.

“You know I love you, right?” His eyes try to search hers for confirmation.

When Vanya doesn’t answer he continues.

“All I’m trying to do is maintain some order and sanity around here,” he reaches out, taking her hand into his own, “you do understand that, right?”

He looks at her, eyes filled with love and care. Vanya nods her head.

Leonard speaks calmly this time, “Good.”

He gives her a gentle smile, squeezing her hand reassuringly.

“Now, what is the note about?” He asks politely.

The switch was sudden. One second he was so _angry_ with her, the next he was all sweet smiles and softly whispered words, interested in her opinions.

“Well,” she spoke softly, before clearing her throat, “I got this letter in the mail, about my father’s death. I’m invited to be there for the spreading of his ashes and I was wondering if it would be alright if I went.”

Vanya finally met his gaze once she finished speaking. She could practically see the word _‘no’_ forming on his lips, so she quickly started again.

“I know you get nervous when I leave, but this is something very important to me.” Vanya rushes out, attempting to plead her case.

“You said you didn’t have a good relationship with your family.” Leonard countered.

“I don’t,” she answered, her voice dwindling down once again, “but he was still my father, and I’m sure some of my siblings will be there, too. It would be nice to at least see them.”

“Plus,” she continued, “I got an invitation, so someone must want me there.”

Vanya looks at him with pleading eyes. Leonard taps his fingers against the table as he ponders the idea of having her gone for a few hours. He lets out a deep breath through his nose.

“When is it?” He asks, a displeased look on his face.

“Tomorrow.” Vanya replies shyly.

They sit in another round of silence.

“Fine.” Leonard says shortly.

Vanya lets out a light sigh, a small grin gracing her face. The relief was short lived, however, when Leonard tightened his grip on her hand, almost as a warning.

“You know when you have to be home, correct?” He questions, teeth gritting together slightly.

Vanya nods in acknowledgment, “Ten-Thirty.”

“Don’t forget it,” He retorts darkly, the grip on Vanya’s hand clenches even more, “don’t make me remind you of what happens when you don’t follow the rules.”

Vanya jerkily nods for what seems like the hundredth time. Satisfied with her answer, Leonard lets go of her hand and leaves her alone, heading to the living room. Vanya closes her eyes and lets out a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding. She wasn’t thrilled to go to her dad’s funeral or receive scrutiny from her siblings after years of no communication, but she couldn’t help the part of her that was grateful that she would get some freedom. Even if said freedom lasted for a few hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a little easier to write than the first chapter for some reason. Chapter 3 is definitely on its way and will be posted in the next few days, and the sibling will finally introduced!! Once again, constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated and I hope you enjoyed this chapter:)  
> -k


	3. Chapter:3

This was really happening.

Vanya has this realization five minutes into the cab ride. For some reason, the thought of actually seeing her siblings hadn’t hit her until this moment. She let out a shaky breath, her leg bouncing rapidly. It has been _years_ since she wrote the book and lost contact with them; it was a messy end to an already broken down relationship. Between the disappointed email from Allison and the enraged voicemail from Diego the day after the book released, Vanya felt she had every right to be anxious about seeing them again.

Even though she was happy about getting to go on her own for a while, Vanya couldn’t help but want Leonard there; just so she could have someone that she was used to being around to calm her nerves. However, the thought of him spiked her anxiety even more when she remembered the conversation they had before she left. The almost hour long speech Leonard made, reminding her of the rules and guidelines she has to follow, is the reason why she is currently running late. Which, in turn, will provide her siblings with another reason they can add to the list of reasons why they hate her.

At this point, Vanya feels like her head is in shambles. Brain running in circles of cause and effect, she puts her head in her hands, rubbing circular motions into her temples. She groans lightly, having enough, as she reaches into the pocket of her button up. Vanya pulls out the little orange bottle of pills, reminiscent to the one she carried around throughout childhood, and shook the contents inside. Vanya grimaces at what she sees in the bottle.

She’s almost out.

Vanya had gotten used to saving her last few pills due to her being required to ask Leonard to get the refills for her. That talk hardly ever ends well. He finds it an inconvenience to himself when she asks for help. The pills aren't an exception. Leonard makes sure to make her feel guilty about needing them, calling her selfish and asking if she _actually_ needs them. However, Vanya doesn’t compare that to when he uses her pills as leverage against her; she either does what he wants, or she can kiss her pills goodbye. It isn’t like she could get them herself either, with Leonard hiding the keys to his car from her, and the strict regulations on where she can and can’t go, leaving is almost impossible.

Vanya was knocked out of her thoughtful trance as the cab stopped suddenly. Looking up from the orange bottle, her eyes meet a familiar sight. Gates with umbrella symbols branded into the metal.

 _The Academy,_ Vanya thought, paying the cab driver and exiting the car.

Standing there made Vanya feel like she was in a weird dream. It was a strange sensation. Nostalgia and a bit of bitterness hit her all at once as she opened the gates and ascends up the stairs, towards the front doors. Once she neared them, she paused, looking down at the bottle in her hand. Vanya finally made her decision, opening the bottle with a faint ‘pop’, she swallows down one of the capsules and slips the orange container back into her pocket. Breathing in, she takes hold of the door handles, turning them and swinging the doors open wide.

Stepping into the foyer only made the nostalgic feeling increase. Nothing has changed. Everything looks the same as it did the night she had left. Vanya walks around, taking in the details of the house, when she notices a blonde head of hair.

“Mom?” Vanya calls out to Grace.

Not getting a response, she calls again, slightly louder,”Mom.”

Grace doesn’t even flinch, looking like she was lost in her own world. Vanya was about to check on her, but a voice interrupted that plan.

“Vanya?” The voice questions.

Vanya looks toward the sound and sees no one other than her only sister.

“Allison.” Vanya replies, not knowing what else to say.

She had seen Allison on red carpet events on T.V. and in some movies and shows, but it was different seeing her in real life again. Allison smiles softly at her, continuing down the staircase and finally stopping when she reaches Vanya.

“You actually came,” Allison wrapped her arms around Vanya, pulling her into a hug,” it’s good to see you. I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.” Vanya responds, before they break the hug.

Allison looks like she was going to say something else, but was cut off by the sound of someone clicking their tongue in distaste.

“What is she doing here?” Diego asks harshly, walking past them,” You shouldn’t be here.”

“Seriously,” Allison retorts,” you decide to do this today?”

Diego doesn’t reply as he makes his way up the stairs, leaving Vanya and Allison alone again.

“Maybe he’s right, I should go.” Vanya says looking down at her shoes.

“Forget him,” Allison reassures,” he’s just being crabby like always. Plus, I want you here.”

They share one more smile, and finally split their separate ways. Vanya enters the living room, touring the space that she has been in many times before. She stops at the bookshelf, seeing her book sitting among the rest of Reginald’s grand collection. She reaches up and grabs it, opening the first page to the hand written note she had left for him.

“Ms.Vanya.” A British accent rings through the empty room.

Vanya immediately smiles and turns around, closing the book back.

“Pogo.” Vanya states fondly, walking over to him and exchanging an embrace.

“Ah,” Pogo says as they let go of each other,” you’ve found your autobiography.”

Vanya smiles shyly,” Did....did he ever read it?”

Pogo gives her a somber look,” I’m afraid not.”

She nods, having already expected that to be the answer, it was the hopefulness in her that just wanted to make sure. Vanya took one more glance around the room, eyes fixing on Five’s painting for a moment, then leaving with a quick goodbye to Pogo, before heading down the stairs to the kitchen. She could hear the sound of bickering voices as she enters the stairway; Vanya was ready to turn around and head back up, when an arm finds itself around her shoulders. The scent of cigarettes and alcohol, mixed with the feeling of a lean body leaning against her, was a dead giveaway to who this arm belongs to.

“Hi, Klaus.” She says, the smile from earlier creeping back onto her face.

“Vanya! My dear, sweet, tiny sister, it’s been so long.” Klaus exclaims in a strange faux accent.

“Do you ever just sit there and listen to the ridiculous shit that leaves your mouth?” Diego’s voice echos out from the kitchen.

“Oh!” Klaus grins,” Finally, some entertainment. This whole ‘my daddy is dead’ funeral thing was becoming a real drag.”

With a glass filled with an unknown liquid in one hand and Vanya’s wrist in the other, Klaus walks right into the middle of an argument. Diego and Luther are standing on opposite sides of the table, attempting to talk over one another, as Allison sits looking unimpressed; Vanya and Klaus both taking seats next to her.

“Is that my skirt?” Allison asks, her confused look focused on Klaus.

He props his feet up on the table, takes a sip of his mystery drink, and sighs.

“It doesn’t matter _where_ I got it from, the only thing that matters is the fact that I look absolutely _ravishing_ in it.”

Allison squints her eyes, but doesn’t reply; instead she focuses on the, now, very loud argument her other brothers are partaking in.

Standing up, Allison claps loudly, gaining the attention of the two belligerent men, ultimately stopping the screaming match.

“Ok,” She began,” I _really_ hate to interrupt whatever _this_ is, but could you at least fill us in on why it’s happening.”

“Dads monocle is missing.” Luther rushes out.

Everyone looks at him straight faces.

“And that’s important because...” Allison speaks first.

“Dad never took his monocle off; someone must have taken it.” Luther stresses,” Which is why I think dad was murdered.”

The room held a tense silence, until Diego broke into slow claps.

“Bravo,” he spits sarcastically,” you have managed to ignore police reports, medical exams, and _common sense_ that say the old man died naturally. Here I thought you couldn’t get any more idiotic, yet there you stand. The moon really must’ve destroyed your last brain cells, spaceboy.”

Luther steps forward, and angry look adorning his face, but is stopped short by Allison.

Vanya has the strong urge to leave. Growing up, she and her siblings witnessed countless fights that broke out between numbers One and Two, they never ended pretty either. She was also sure it would be possible to leave and not have the rest realize she was gone until a long while later. However, Allison speaking again halted her plan of escape.

“That’s it? That’s what the argument was about?” Judgment dripping from her sister’s words.

“Nope,” Diego answers, pointing and accusatory finger at Luther,” peabrain here also thinks that one of us was the one that killed him.”

All eyes were, once again, on Luther.

“Is that true?” Allison asks in astonishment.

Luther crosses his arms over his chest, opening his mouth to speak, when the pots and pans hanging above them begin to shake.

At first Vanya thought it was an earthquake, but a flashing blue light caught her eye from out the window. She turned her head, looking out into the courtyard, and sees a strange blue ring swirling in the sky. Vanya, wasting no time, gets up and rushes outside with her siblings in tow.

“What the hell is it?” Diego questions.

No one has an answer. Vanya feels someone run past her and sees Klaus ready to throw a fire extinguisher at the strange anomaly.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” She contemplates.

Klaus only shrugs,” Won’t hurt to try.”

Vanya watches in surprise as the... _thing_ in the sky seems to swallow the thrown object whole. There is something else though. As she looks closer, Vanya can see the silhouette of something coming through the bright light. Just as she was going to comment on it, something falls out of the anomaly, and everything goes quiet again. Taking steps closer, Vanya realizes that the _something_ is actually a _someone_. The figure stands up and Vanya feels all of the breath get knocked out of her body with shock.

Standing there, after nearly 17 years of being gone, is Number Five.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was really fun to write. I really wanted to introduce the siblings earlier on rather than later, because they play a big role throughout the whole story. I hope the sibling antics were a nice break from the heavier topics that are going to start up again next chapter.  
> Fun fact: Chapter 3 and what is now going to be chapter 4, were supposed to be one chapter. However, as this one became longer and longer, I decided to split the plot points up; making chapter three into 2 different ones and what was going to be chapter 4 i made into chapter 5.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the read.  
> Chapter 4 will be on its way in a few days:)  
> -k


	4. Chapter:4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter is the reason why I put 'strong language' in the tags.

Of all the unbelievable things that have happened in Vanya’s life, this definitely takes the cake.

Don’t get her wrong, many unexpected things have happened, like Reginald finally biting the dust and her siblings talking to her again (some more nicely that others); however, as she and her siblings sit side by side at the table, watching Number Five collect ingredients to his favorite sandwich, Vanya has to admit that his sudden appearance tops everything else.

“What’s today’s date?” Five demands,” and I mean the _exact_ date.”

“March 24th.” Vanya rushes out, the shock of seeing her still 13-year-old brother clouding her mind.

Five lets out a small breath of relief, but his face remains serious.

“Good, I still have time.” He mumbles to himself.

The room goes quiet, the only sound is the noise of the knife scraping against the plate, as Five cuts the sandwich in half.

“So, are you going to tell us what happened?” Luther’s voice breaks through the silence,” I mean it’s been almost 17 years and- “

“It’s been more than 17 years.” Five says, cutting Luther’s speech short.

“Where did you even go?” Allison joins in.

“The future.” Five says shortly,” It’s shit, by the way.”

“How did you get back?” Vanya asks, curiosity getting the best of her.

“I had to project my conscience into a version of myself that exists in every instance of time.” Five explains, as if it was a simple equation everyone should already know.

“I don’t understand.” Diego admits.

“No surprise there, you never were the _sharpest_ knife in the kitchen drawer.” Five mocks, taking a bite of his snack.

Provoked, Diego jumps up, ready to get into yet another fight, only with a different brother this time around. Luther stops him before he can get the chance.

“Anyway,” Five continues,” I ended up trapped there for 45 years.”

“So, What, you’re 58?” Luther questions.

The look of annoyance crosses Five’s face.

“No, my conscience is 58, my body, however, is 13.”

Five keeps going,” Dolores told me the calculations were off.”

 _Dolores?_ Vanya thinks confusedly, _must be someone he met in the future._

“Hey!” Klaus’ voice barges into her thought process,” Now someone else can have the nickname ‘old man’ since the actual old man is gone.”

In return, he receives glares from Five and Luther, presumably for different reasons.

“Can we get this thing for dear old-dad over with, already? I have more important things to do.” Five says impatiently, which signals Luther to grab Reginald’s ashes and head to the food leading outside.

Seeing that it was raining, Vanya went along with her siblings, each grabbing an umbrella, before heading outside once again. There, she was met with the sight of Luther standing next to Ben’s statue. Vanya knows she defiantly would not be the only one to say she misses Ben. He was the only one, other than Five, who didn’t treat her like a complete outcast; and when Five went missing their bond grew stronger. Of course, they weren’t each other’s best friends, his was Klaus and hers was Five, but Vanya thinks that he saw her as more of a sister than the others, who only saw her as a liability.

Vanya finally focuses back from her distracted state, to find Luther and Diego at each other’s throat for the second (and probably not last) time today.

“Stop it!” Vanya yells out as Klaus cheers simultaneously, “Hit him!”

With a migraine starting to form, all the commotion starts to become too much for Vanya. She reaches for her pill bottle just as Luther’s back collides with Ben’s statue. Vanya watches as the statue tips forward, crashing to the ground, and breaking into pieces.

“Nice to see nothing has changed.” Five spits, turning around and heading back inside.

“Just great.” Allison mutters, following Five’s lead.

Luther and Diego take the hint and begin making their way back inside.

“You never know when to stop, do you?” Vanya whispers once they get close enough.

“That’s rich coming from you.” Diego sneers as he walks past.

Luther says nothing and Vanya sighs, peaking at Klaus from the corner of her eye, before following everyone else.

Inside, Vanya checks the time, making sure Leonard wouldn’t be there to pick her up, yet. _It’s only Nine Fifty-Five_ , she says in her head, _I have until Ten Fifteen._ With a little time left to spare, she walks up the stairs back into the first floor, stopping when she sees Five staring at his portrait. He begins so speak as she walks closer.

“I didn’t get a statue, huh?” A sarcastic smirk appearing on his face.

“No,” Vanya starts,” I think this was dad’s way of saying he didn’t think you were dead without actually _saying_ it.”

“Maybe.” Five answers simply,” So, how has everything been?”

“They hate me.” She supplies with a sideways smile.

“Because if the book, I’m guessing?” Five questions,” I found it in what was left of the library when I jumped to the future. Anyway, they’ll come around, I can already tell Allison and Klaus have chosen to forgive and forget. You’ll just have to give tweedle dee and tweedle dum enough time to get their heads out of their asses and see the bigger picture.”

Vanya grins at that.

“I missed you, ya know.” Vanya reminisces,” I used to leave the lights on for you in case you came home, so you would know that we were still here. I would leave peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches out, too, in case you were hungry from whatever adventure you went on. It was stupid, but it felt like the least I could do since I didn’t have any special power I could use to try and find you.”

The conversation dwindles down between them, into a comfortable silence.

“How bad was it?” Vanya speaks up, gaining Five’s attention,” The future, I mean.”

“It’s complicated, but I’ll tell you about it soon. You’re probably the only one around here that’ll actually listen.” Five provides.

He looks up at something on the wall. Vanya follows his gaze to a clock, the hands telling them it is now Ten-Ten.

“In the meantime, I have somewhere important to be.” Five speaks, his face turning serious.

 Vanya nods her head in acknowledgment as he jumps, leaving her alone in the room. She takes a seat on the couch, deciding to wait for Leonard’s arrival. However, as Ten-Fifteen rolls around, she begging to get worried. Leonard hates few things more that he hates being late, not to mention he absolutely can’t _stand_ when she’s the one late.  With that in mind, she hops up from the couch and goes straight for the phone located across the room.

She dials the number and waits while the dial tone rings. The only voice she is met with is that of the voicemail he recorded. With shaking hands, Vanya dials again and again, only getting the same result. She glances to the clock again, swallowing thickly. Ten Twenty-Five. Realizing she’s wasting time, Vanya hangs up the phone and rushes for the doors. Nearly tripping as she speeds down the front stairs, she throws the gates open and looks down each street.

Nothing.

No cabs. No buses. Other than the occasional car, the street is practically empty. Making a panicked noise, Vanya starts to walk, but that walk quickly turns into a jog, which turns into a run as she feels each minute pass her by. She can’t help the tears that well up in her eyes, blurring her vision, and slowly trickling down her cheeks. Vanya is just getting too tired to run any farther, when she reads a recognizable street sign.

Letting out a breath of relief, she continues down the sidewalk, finally stopping in front of her and Leonard’s house. She walks to the front door, leaning down to take hold of the key hidden under the welcome mat, and proceeding to open the door. Her heart beats fast and her breach comes out uneven as she tiptoes through the entryway. Vanya can barely see anything. The only source of light is that of the moonlight streaming through the open curtains.

“Leonard?” Vanya calls softly, looking around the main floor.

There isn’t any sign of him, so she continues her search upstairs. Vanya walks down the hall and into their shared room, leaving the lights off Incase Leonard was asleep.

“Leonard?” She calls out again, stepping into the connected bathroom.

Nothing.

Vanya turns around, walking back into the room.

**_Smack!_ **

Vanya hears the loud noise before she feels the stinging in her cheek. The force behind the hit is so powerful it sends her to the floor; one hand cradling her face, the other flat against the floor, breaking her fall. The lights flicker on, drawing her attention to someone towering over her.

“Where the fuck were you?” He slurs, slightly.

Vanya could smell the liquor on him, even from her place on the ground.

“What?” She whispers in confusion.

“I said,” Leonard crouches down next to her,” where the _fuck_ were you?”

“I went to my father’s funeral.” She says, her eyebrows knotting together,” you said I could go. You even wanted to pick me up afterward.”

“Really now?” Leonard bits out,” Because I don’t remember having that conversation at all.”

Vanya stays quiet, afraid of saying the wrong thing.

“Now answer my question correctly.” He demands.

“I swear; I’m telling the tru- “Vanya’s words get cut off by a groan as Leonard kicks her in the stomach.

“You’re such a damn liar.”

He stands up, pacing back and forth a few times, getting angrier with every step he takes. He stops suddenly, crouching down in front of Vanya again.

“You’re cheating on me aren’t you?” Leonard accuses, his eyes wide with rage.

“What? No, I- “Vanya tried to defend herself, but a hand around her throat stops her.

“You _bitch!”_ Leonard grits out.

He yanks her up, slamming her against the wall, her head thudding against it. Vanya struggles for air as Leonard’s grip tightens; her legs dangle just above the ground, kicking frantically.

“After all I’ve done for you, this is the thanks I get?” Leonard smacks her across the face.

At this point, Vanya reaches her hands up in Ana attempt to pry his hand away from her windpipe, gasping for air.

“I’m a great boyfriend, probably the only guy who would want you for more than just a quick fuck.” He seethes,” yet you go around, spreading your legs for every other man, like the little whore you are, while I go and make money for us to survive.”

By the end of his speech, Vanya’s face is practically blue and she’s getting weaker and weaker by the second. Miraculously, Leonard’s grip loosens and he tosses her to the ground.

“You should be on your knees, kissing the ground I walk on for even staying with you. I could find _anyone_ better than you, but I stay because I care about you.” Leonard states as Vanya sputters, reveling in the feeling of Oxygen reaching her lungs.

Leonard steps forward, putting his shoe in Vanya’s line of vision.

“Kiss it.” He insists.

Vanya looks up at him sobbing, and follows his order. Quickly, she bends her hand down, her lips brushing the tip of his shoe, before backing up again. Glancing up, she spots a sadistic grin plastered on Leonard’s face.

“Now for the final part of your punishment.” He says, walking away from her and into the hallway.

Vanya watches as Leonard reaches up, pulling on a string. Fear and panic sill her as she sees him pull down a latter, realizing what was coming next.

“No! Please!” She begs him when he comes back.

The only thing she receives from him is another hard slap in the face.

“Do you ever shut up?” He taunts, rolling his eyes.

Reaching down, Leonard snatches her ankle, dragging her into the hallway.

The whole way, Vanya scratches at the wood floor, nails leaving tiny marks as she attempts to crawl away, pleads spilling from her mouth. He finally stops in front of the latter, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. Vanya hits and scratches at his back, trying anything to get away from him. She hits her head on the entrance of the attic as he tosses her in, making everything for fuzzy for a moment.

“I will let you out when I feel like you’re ready to behave.” Vanya hears Leonard speak, spurring her into action.

She reaches forward, trying to get to the attic door before it closes, but she is too late. She shakes at the handle violently, screaming for someone to come save her.

No one does.

Curling up in a corner, Vanya lets sobs rack her body. Not knowing how long she is going to be here, she closes her eyes, finally letting exhaustion take over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like this chapter:) Chapter 5 will most likely take me a bit longer to write, but i will put it up as soon as I can.  
> Thank you for reading<3  
> -K


	5. Chapter:5

Waking up in a different place from where you fell asleep is always a strange feeling.

That is what Vanya feels as she slowly wakes up from a dreamless slumber. As her eyes flutter open, Vanya can sense something soft under her, which is a contrast to the cold, hard ground she fell asleep on last night. Blinking a few times, she finally sits up, groggily taking in her surroundings.

She is in the bedroom.

Sunshine is coming through the windows, eliminating everything in its path. As she gains her bearings, Vanya is caught off-guard when the scent of something cooking fills her nose and makes her mouth water. Vanya swings her legs over the side of the bed with every intension of following the smell. For a second, she thought the events that happened last night was all a fever dream, until she spots the tiny indents left in the wood floor by her nails as she looks down, leaving the room. The reminder makes her weary as she cautiously steps down the stairs.

The smell of freshly cooked breakfast only gets stronger the closer she gets to the kitchen. Standing in the doorway, Vanya is surprised to see stacks of pancakes covering two plates, along with eggs and cut up strawberries. Leonard is there, pouring orange juice into glass cups, humming an unrecognizable tune. The sight is unusual to Vanya, as she is, more often than not, the one who cooks for the both of them. She shifts her feet unconsciously, making the floor boards creak and causing Leonard to look up at her.

“Good morning, sweetheart.” He greets with caring eyes and a soft smile.

Vanya can’t help but smile back, returning his greeting.

“Come sit, I did all of this for you.” Leonard says, pulling a chair out, motioning for her with a wave of his hand.

Vanya takes a seat, allowing Leonard to push the chair back toward the table. She watches as he takes his seat, waiting for the go ahead to begin eating.

“Let’s eat.” He says sweetly, picking up his utensils.

It’s practically silent as the both of them eat; the only sound provided is the light scraping of forks against plates. Leonard clears his throat, disrupting the peace flowing through the room.

“So,” He starts,” about last night, I want to say that I’m so sorry. I was tipsy and worried about you, so I got angry and overreacted. I just want to say that it will never happen again.”

Leonard stares into Vanya’s eyes, making sure she was listening to his reasoning. Vanya just gives him another brief smile, turning her attention back to her food.

“To show you how much I love you,” Leonard continues,” I have a few surprises for you.”

Vanya’s gaze snaps back up at this, questioning what he could possibly have up his sleeve.

“The first surprise, is that your sister called earlier asking for you. I, of course, told her I could pass on the message since you were fast asleep. Anyway, she wanted to know if you wanted to go shopping with her. So, I told her that you would love to; because of our fight yesterday, I felt like you could use some time with family. You can thank me later.” He explained in an excited tone.

Vanya blinks slowly. Surely he wouldn’t just let her leave like that, especially after what happened just hours earlier...would he?

“What about the second surprise?” She asks, trying to stop herself from spiraling too far into her own head.

“That one is a secret.” Leonard grins mysteriously,” however, it will be right after I come home from work, so you do need to be here before then.”

She nods her head in confirmation.

“When did Allison say she wanted to meet up?” Vanya questions, contemplating how long she had to get ready.

Leonard hums,” She said she would come pick you up around one o’clock.”

Shifting her sight over to the digital clock on the oven, Vanya can see that it is already twelve. Finished with her food, she stands up and offers to wash the dishes, but Leonard denies, saying he would rather her get ready. So, she makes her way upstairs; walking through the bedroom and straight for the bathroom, she turns the shower on opting to pick her clothes out while the water heats up. After the quick shower, she gets dressed in a simple long sleeve shirt and jeans, before going over to the sink to brush her teeth. Seeing the steam covering the mirror, she reaches up, swiping her hand across the surface.

Vanya makes eye contact with the mirror, grimacing at what is staring back at her.

Dark circles are prominent under her eyes from the fitful sleep she had the night before. That, however, isn’t as bad as the large bruises that stand out on her cheek and around her throat. Taking deep breaths to stop fresh tears from falling, she opens the top drawer, reaching in to grab a tiny tube. Gently, she dabs the concealer on each of the marks, blending it in lightly with the tips of her fingers. She gives herself one last glance in the mirror and checks the time.

Twelve-Forty.

Vanya grumbles as she feels the familiar feeling of anxiousness bubble up inside her. She retrieves the pill bottle from the button up she wore yesterday, taking two without hesitation. She curses herself when she goes to pop the top back into the bottle, seeing the lack in abundance of capsules left.

_Maybe I should ask himself he can get more while he’s in a good mood,_ she thinks.

Seeing as he has already left for work, she decides to do it later, after whatever he has planned. The honk of a horn makes her jump; she goes down to investigate out the front windows. Looking out, she sees a sleek, black car parked in front of the house. Thought the rolled down window, she can see Allison beckoning for her to come out. Vanya sucks in a breath as she opens the door, leaving the house. Trudging closer to the car, the back window descends, and out pops Klaus’ head.

“Get in loser, we’re going shopping!” He references, a goofy grin stretching across his face.

Vanya looks in confusion, choosing to just wave at him, not expecting him to have come along. Getting in the car, she gets a side hug from Allison and a sort of awkward around the neck hug from Klaus.

“Nice place you got there van-van. Very suburban-esq.” Klaus compliments as Allison starts to drive off.

“Thanks.” She accepts with a proud smile.

“No problemo,” he replies,” and I heard from the phone call, you’re also living with some man-candy,too.” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively as she blushes.

“Klaus, leave her alone.” Allison then looks to Vanya,” Sorry, about this. It was supposed to be a girl’s day out, until someone invited themself.”

“Oh sister-mine,” Klaus sighs,” you should know by now; a girl’s night out is never _truly_ a girl’s night out without me there.”

He continues,” I mean, come on, I was the one who convinced Diego to let us use his car.”

“No, you asked, and when he said ‘no’ you stole his keys, threw them at me, and told me to make a run for it.” Allison counters, glancing at him in the rear view mirror.

“tomato, tomahto.” He responds, leaning back in his seat.

The rest of the car ride consists of Allison honking at the cars in front of them, while Klaus screams along with the songs playing on the radio. Soon Vanya’s nerves melt away. She wasn’t sure if it’s the pills or her genuinely having a good time, but she finds herself not caring as she sings along with her brother and laughs with her sister. They eventually get to the strip of stores, grins going from ear to ear as they hop back and forth between shops. Vanya, so far, has been the judge in Klaus and Allison’s weird fashion showdown, before they eventually pull her into it, as well. After two hours, Vanya is able to convince them to take a break at a tiny coffee shop nearby. The tree are sitting for less than ten minutes, when a flash of blue appears, along with the weight of another body landing next to Vanya in the booth.

“Finally, I was looking for you guys.” Five says, grasping Vanya’s cup and taking a sip of it, then making a disgusted face.

“Hello to you, too, Five.” Allison sarcasms.

“I don’t have time for greetings. I need a favor from one of you.” He impatiently taps his fingers against the table.

“What kind of favor?” Vanya wonders, knowing that Five almost _never_ asks his siblings for help.

“I need someone to pretend to be my parent.” Five says, like it physically pains him to ask.

“Why?” Allison questions.

“I just told you that I don’t have time, so I can’t explain it.” Five groans,” Will one of you do it or not? It’s a simple yes or no answer.”

Vanya really wants to help him so she could spend more time with him and maybe even get some answers about the future, but she remembers what Leonard has planned for later and has to decline.

“Sorry, but I can’t today.” She sends him a sad smile.

“Me neither,” Allison follows up,” I have to be back at the house at a certain time to talk with Claire on the phone.”

“Great.” Five states, dully,” what about you, Klaus?”

Klaus gasps, bringing his hand up to cover his heart dramatically.

“You need little old me to help you? Well let me tell you, I am so honor-“

“Klaus!” Five grits out.

“Fine, yes, I’ll help.” He rolls his eyes.

Five vanishes, only to reappear outside of the window, motioning for Klaus to hurry up.

“Whelp, the grumpy old man needs assistance.” Klaus stands up, then bows,” I bid you a-due.”  

Saying their goodbyes to him, Vanya and Allison continue to drink their beverages.

“So,” Allison starts,” who is this ‘Leonard’ I talked to this morning?”

“He’s my boyfriend.” Vanya answers, blushing for the second time today.

“Really?” She raises her and eyebrow, adopting a mischievous smirk.

“Yeah.” Vanya whispers, a ghost of a smile on her lips.

“What’s he like?” Allison leans forward, settling her head in her hand.

“He’s amazing.” Vanya begins,” He is super sweet, caring, and just an all-around perfect guy who loves me to death. I really love him, a lot.”

Vanya pulls the corners of her lips up, choosing her words carefully. Allison doesn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, as she awes.

“That’s cute,” she smiles,” I’m happy for you, sis.”

Time passes them by as they continue to sip their drinks, and before long it’s nearly Five-thirty.

“Shit.” Allison curses, looking at her watch,” it’s almost time for me to call Claire.”

Vanya peaks over at the time, too.

“Yeah, Leonard should be off work soon. I need to be home before he is.” Vanya says, but seeing the confusion on Allison’s face, she continues.

“He is surprising me with something when he gets home.” She explains, in hopes of not raising any concern.

“Oh.” Allison nods, standing up and making her way to the car.

Vanya follows her out, entering the car and staring at the passing buildings as Allison drives off. Between Allison practicing excuses to give to Diego when she gives his car back and Vanya trying to figure out what Leonard had in store for her, the way back to Vanya’s house was a bit tense. Pulling up to the house, Vanya’s breath caught as she spots Leonard’s car already outside. Bidding Allison a quick goodbye, she rushes to the door, expecting an outraged boyfriend on the other side. However, when she steps inside, she is met with a bright smile.

“Hey, I was wondering when you’d get back.” Leonard tells her,” How was the little trip with you sister?”

“It was good.” Vanya answers, a little shell shocked.

“That’s great.” He begins,” Anyway, I bet you’re wondering what that surprise is.”

Leonard reaches behind the couch and pulls out a bag, which he then hands over to her.

“Open it.” He tells her, excitement showing on his face.

Vanya does as told, taking out the paper sticking from the top of the bag. Putting her hand in, she feels something soft and smooth against her fingertips. Gripping onto it, she finally pulls it out, revealing a silk black dress. Vanya looks from the dress to Leonard.

“It’s beautiful.” She says softly.

 Vanya has never really been a dress person, but reviving a grit from Leonard is something that doesn’t happen often, so she is grateful for this.

“That’s not all though,” Leonard pipes up, grabbing Vanya’s attention back,” I’m taking you out to dinner.”

_Well isn’t this day filled with surprises,_ Vanya thinks.

“What time are we leaving?” She asks.

“In a few minutes,” he responds back,” we should start getting ready.”

And so they do; with Leonard’s heavy pointers on how Vanya should do her hair and makeup, they were out the door within the hour. Vanya knows something is up, as Leonard steals glances at her from the corner of his eye. They finally arrive at the fancy restaurant, walking in and being escorted to their reserved table. Leonard order a for the both of them, and when the food get there he begins to speak.

“Vanya,” he calls her, only continuing when he has her full attention,” you know I love you.”

He says it more as a statement than an actual question, but Vanya nods her head in agreement anyway.

“And I know you love me, too.” Leonard keeps going,” so, why don’t we make our love for each other official.”

Vanya nearly chokes on the remaining food in her mouth as she stares at him, wide eyed.

“Leonard?” She questions, breathlessly.

“What I mean to ask is,” Leonard stands, only to get down on one knee, capturing the attention of the whole restaurant.

“Will you marry me?” He pulls out a ring from his pocket, holding it up with one hand.

Vanya feels overwhelmed as everyone looks on, waiting for her to give an answer. She knows she has to say something fast, before Leonard gets upset at her for taking too long. She contemplated saying no, quickly shoving the idea to the back of her mind when she thinks about how he would react if she were to embarrass him like that in front of all these people. Coming to the conclusion that there is only one thing she can do, Vanya gives her answer.

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAYY, another chapter posted:)  
> This may be the for the rest of this week and next week, because I will be away from my computer from the 15th to the 23rd.  
> I was thinking about writing chapter 6 this week, just so i can give you guys another chapter before i disappear for a week, but I really don't want to rush it. So, chapter 6 may or may not be coming this week.  
> A hint for chapter 6 is i named it "meet the family";)  
> Thank you for reading and I hoped you enjoyed this chapter<3  
> -k


	6. Chapter:6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: I changed the timeline around a bit and had Klaus go to Vietnam sooner since Hazel and Cha-Cha don't come to the house in this fic. Just clearing things up if anyone gets confused:)

The silver band on Vanya’s finger shimmers in the sun with the slightest twitch of her hand.

The night of Leonard’s proposal passed and a new day has started; yet Vanya still feels like she is in a shock-induced trance. Vanya can’t quite remember when Leonard decided they it would be a _great_ idea to introduce himself to her abundance of siblings. Yet, here she is, sitting in the passenger seat of Leonard’s car, heading right toward her dreaded childhood home. Leonard is taping his fingers against the steering wheel, signaling to Vanya just how anxious he is.

_What does he have to be nervous about?_ Vanya questions herself, _They probably aren’t even going to be interested enough in me to care about the engagement._

Actually thinking of the word _engagement_ makes this situation feel too real, and the once slight nervous twitch in Vanya’s hand becomes a more aggressive jitter. She twists the ring around her finger, irritating the skin underneath. As she has been thought to do from an early age, Vanya reaches for her savior. The rattling sound of tablets against plastic already calming her nerves; she pops the top open.

“Damnit,” Leonard’s voice startles her, “do you always have to make so much fucking noise with everything you do?”

Vanya can feel the irritation radiating off of her now fiancé and quickly shakes out two pills, leaving two left in the container.

“I mean really,” Leonard continues, “the annoying violin, your whiny voice, and that stupid pill bottle are going to be the death of me.”

Not wanting to get into an argument, Vanya whispers out an apology, swallowing the capsules down dry, before stowing away the bottle quietly. What only seems like a few seconds after that, they arrive at the mansion. Leonard parks the car, Vanya reaches for the handle of the door when a death grip finds itself around her upper arm, causing her to hiss in pain.

Pulling Vanya in close, Leonard growls in her ear, “Don’t you even _think_ about embarrassing me, or there’ll be hell to pay.”

It’s a simple statement, but it still rattles Vanya to the core as they both retreat from the car. Deja vu sets in when Vanya continues her steps up the front stairs once again. She takes a short pause, wishing that only one or two (or even better, none) of her siblings were in the building. However, as always, Vanya’s wish goes ungranted. Opening the door, the bickering voices of numbers One and Two fill the house. Surprisingly, Allison’s voice mingles with the other two, suggesting the argument must be about something serious.

Stepping into the house, Vanya and Leonard let the door close behind them, the slam going unnoticed. Looking forward, Vanya sees Klaus perched on the stairs with a heartbroken look in his eyes; he wasn’t wearing his typical clothes and had a necklace around his neck that he was clutching. Vanya is about to approach him, when Five walks into the corridor gripping, what she assumed to be, a cup of coffee. Vanya takes a few steps forward, Leonard following close behind, in an attempt to gain his attention. She succeeds, his face softening slightly from its usual hard look when he meets her eyes. As his gaze flows from her over to Leonard, Five’s face snaps back to its intimidating look; his jaw squares and his lips form into a tight line as he looks Leonard up and down. The stare down is over when Five huffs, face twisting in disgust, and moves to the ongoing disagreement between the remaining family members.

Vanya stands in confusion. She blinks back to reality, looking over to Klaus again, who is making his way up the stairs slowly. She the glances behind her toward Leonard, and their eyes meet. He is looking at her, an accusatory expression showing on his features, like _she_ was the one at fault for whatever just happened. He walks ahead of her, following the loud argument and Five, before she can say sorry for whatever she had done to upset him. Vanya takes a deep breath, going after him.

Reaching the open archways of the living room, Vanya is finally met with the figures the voices belong to. Luther, Diego, and Allison are standing in a triangular formation in the middle of the room, bouncing heated words off of each other to see who would get the upper hand. To her right, she can see Five sitting at the bar, still sipping on the coffee, indifferent to it all. Vanya doesn’t really know how to intervene in this situation. Yes, she was used to the frequent arguments, however, when she tries to stop them it turned into a whole new argument. Vanya doesn’t have to interrupt this time, as Diego looks past the two siblings facing him, his sharp glare landing on her.

“Just _great_ ,” He snaps, “this is turning into another reunion that no one wants.”

Luther and Allison turn to face her, Alli gives her a warm smile and wave, while Luther just provides a simple nod. As if just noticing him, the trio direct their attention to Leonard.

“Who the hell is that?”

“You must be Leonard.”

Diego’s snarky tone mixes with Allison’s sweet one. Vanya opens her mouth to introduce him officially to her family, but doesn’t get the chance.

“Yeah, I’m Leonard. It’s nice to meet all of you.” He says charmingly.

He shakes Allison’s hand and moves on to repeat the action with Luther; Leonard holds his hand out to Diego, but is ignored in favor of Diego fiddling with his knives. Due to Five’s reaction from earlier, Leonard takes a seat on the couch in order to avoid the same reaction he got from Diego. There is a beat of tense silence, before Vanya’s curiosity gets the better of her.

“So, what were you all talking about?” She squeaks out.

“None of your business.” Diego snipes, receiving a light smack on the arm from Allison.

“It was nothing,” Alli assures, “just a small family meeting.”

Vanya can feel her heart break a little at that. She had really thought that things were getting better between her siblings and her, maybe she was wrong. Vanya looks down at her feet, repeating the action she used to do to have her bands hide her hurt expression when she was a kid. Vanya can’t help but think maybe nothing has changed since those days.

“That’s not what I meant.” Allison says pleadingly, noticing how her sister shrank into herself.

“No, it’s fine. I get what you meant.” Vanya shrugs, “I’m just gonna go grab myself a cup of water.”

With that she was heading out the room and down the kitchen stairs. Vanya grabs a cup next to the sink and turns the tap on, filling it to the brim. She takes a sip and nearly chokes when someone speaks, startling her.

“Their fight wasn’t even interesting, so you shouldn’t worry about it.” Five says calmly as Vanya sputters.

Collecting herself, Vanya retorts, “It doesn’t matter if the conversation is interesting or not, it would be nice to be included in them. I’m part of this family, too.”

Five only nods his head.

“How long has that son of a bitch been putting his hands on you?” Five questions darkly.

“What?” Vanya asks dumbfounded, feeling like she has whiplash from how fast the conversation switched.

Five takes a seat at the table, leaving Vanya standing in front of the sink.

“You heard me.” Five replies simply.

“I don’t know what you’re talki- “Vanya begins, only to get cut off.

“Bullshit,” Five laughs humorlessly, “I can see your poor attempt at covering the bruises on your face and throat. You’re lucky our dear siblings are too wrapped up with themselves to have noticed.”

Vanya’s hands instinctively come up to her covered marks, the areas around them still tender to the touch.

“I also noticed the ring on your finger.” Five continues, “What the hell are you thinking? Are you seriously going to marry that asshole?”

Feeling judged for her choices, Vanya tenses, involuntarily getting defensive.

“He loves me; he can just be a little overprotective sometimes.” She furrows her eyebrows and crosses her arms over her chest.

Five lets out an exasperated sigh, his voice rising slightly as he speaks.

“That isn’t love, he’s controlling you; you just don’t know it yet.”

“He’s not controlling me, Five, I’m not helpless.” Vanya continues.” Sometimes I just don’t respect him enough and he corrects me, that’s all it is.”

Five stares at her in disbelief,” Are you fucking kidding me? Is that what he’s been telling you?”

Vanya stays quiet.

Taking a breath, Five proceeds,” Listen, no one is calling you helpless. It’s that dickheads fault, no one should be hurting you like that, especially not someone that is supposed to love you.”

“One day, you’re going to realize that.” Five finishes.

Vanya is honestly surprised. In all of her years of knowing Five, he had never talked to someone this softly before, especially not to someone in the family. His usual speaking voices were condescending and/or threatening, which in turn caused a running joke between the siblings (excluding her of course) that he hated everyone and everything. With Five and her being close as children, she never got the worst of his attitude, but they were still there.

Vanya drops her defensive stance, features softening tremendously. She is about to go and sit with him, when Leonard barges in without warning.

“Come on, we’re leaving.” Leonard demands, annoyance showing through is face.

Vanya looks to him, then back at Five who’s face returned to the stone cold look from earlier. Leonard snaps his fingers at her telling her to hurry up, so she does. Giving a small wave to Five, she is up the stairs, out the door, and in the car again. They are turning down the street, leaving the vicinity of the house, when Leonard starts talking.

“Your family is full of asshat, bitchy, complainers.” He begins,” Now I see where you get it from, it must run in the family.”

Vanya decides it isn’t the best idea to remind him that her siblings are adopted and don’t share any genetics. So, she does what she had been doing almost all day, she stays quiet.

“I mean really, your two brothers are absolutely full of themselves, that little one looks at me like I murdered his entire family, no thanks to you and your big mouth I bet.” He continues on,” Your other brother didn’t even have the decency to show his face for more than a minute, and your bitch of a sister is too busy whoring herself out to cameras, that she forgets about the real world.”

Vanya clenches her teeth together as he talks, squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt to escape his words without having to physically cover her ears.

“Though I can’t complain about how much money she makes.” Leonard doesn’t stop,” It’s way better than whatever the fuck you think you’re doing with that violin shit, because if I’m being completely honest here, you’re _never_ going to amount to anything if you continue down that path.”

Vanya feels her resolve breaking as tears gather in her eyes. They were supposed to support each other’s dreams no matter what, yet here he is, knocking hers out of reach and thanking her confidence away with it.

“You’re not allowed to contact them anymore. No calling, emailing, writing letters, and definitely no more seeing them. Got it? “he asks,” I can’t have Your behavior getting worse because of their influence.”

“Of course, whatever you want.” Vanya replies numbly.

She continues to stare out the window, turning her face away from him so he won’t see her tears. Holding in sobs as they continue down the road, Vanya imagines a life of happiness instead of hurt and fear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I'm back!  
> I'm super sorry that I haven't posted in forever, but my dog passed away unexpectedly the day after I posted chapter 5 which is why I didn't post the week before I left for another week like I had mentioned last chapter. Also, my sleep schedule had been 100% messed up which caused me not to post right after the trip.  
> Alas, I have managed to gather myself back up enough to write and am excited to post chapters 7 and 8 soon:)  
> speaking of chapter 7, a hint is that it is titled in my notes "shit hits the fan" ;)  
> As always, hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for giving it a read.  
> -K


	7. Chapter:7

Two days have passed since the incident at the mansion.

In that time, Leonard had been on edge, making sure that Vanya has no contact with her siblings whatsoever. Between intercepting phone-calls and encouraging her brothers and sister not to visit, Leonard has us hands full. This is a problem for Vanya, who used her last two pills immediately when she got home from the family visit. With him so agitated recently, she has yet to find the right time to ask him to get her a refill. So instead, Vanya chooses to stick to a routine consisting of her going to rehearsals, practicing at home, and tending to Leonard when needed, in an attempt to fight her anxiety.

With the routine set in place, Vanya feels surprisingly good without her prescription. It’s almost as if she can _feel_ more than she could before. She finds that she smiles more when she’s happy and cries more when she’s upset. Heck, she even auditioned for first chair, something she _never_ thought she could do even with the medication calming her nerves. Vanya feels free, or at least as free as she can be without interfering with Leonard’s wants. She thinks she might have grown out of her need for the medication and just never realized.

The thought of not having to worry about taking the pills anymore puts a smile on Vanya’s face as she stirs the pot of sauce that is sitting on the stove. Everything is going back to normal; as much as she misses her siblings, Vanya can’t help but relish in the feeling of familiarity. Their schedules being back on track, she doesn’t have to worry about Leonard’s outbreaks as much because of his exhaustion after he come home from work. Vanya breaths in, soaking in the quiet of the house after a long day of rehearsals. Unfortunately, the peace escapes her grasp when loud, pounding knocks come from the front door as she continues to cook dinner.

Vanya takes a second to see if whoever it is will go away, but as the knocks diminish, the loud ringing of the doorbell begins. She decides to answer it, coming to the conclusion that the persistent rings calling her to the door won’t stop anytime soon. Vanya turned the handle, not bothering to look out first, and swings the door open. A body collides with hers before she can register who it belongs to, wrapping her up in a tight hug.

 “Thank goodness, you’re ok.” The person sighs, relieved.

“Allison?” Vanya pick up in the voice immediately.

“This is cute and all, but can we please get the fuck inside.” The annoyed tone comes from behind Allison.

_Diego_ , Vanya thinks to herself, assigning the irritated voice to a face as Alli lets her go.

Vanya watches confused as he steps into her house following Allison, expecting him to be the last person who would ever want to see her. Her gaze catches his attention as he closes the door behind him.

“What?” He snaps, narrowing his eyes at her.

Holding her hands up in defense, she murmurs,” Nothing.”

Luckily, he decides to let it go, making his way deeper into the house.

“So,” Vanya starts, hoping to make this visit quick before Leonard gets home,” what brings you here?”

“We wanted to make sure you were alright, you wouldn’t come to the phone when we called, then Leonard stopped answering all together. He said you were sick, so here we are, but you look fine to me.” Allison explains.

“So, you... and Diego decided to check on me?” Vanya says slowly, trying to sort the situation out.

Allison sucks air through her teeth,” Actually, about that...”

She trails off as stomping feel make their way down the stairs, and before Vanya knows it, here comes Five turning into the living room.

“Nice house.” He says indifferently, surveying the area around him.

“When did you get here?” Vanya questions, already feeling overwhelmed. (The slight sway of the fan above them going unnoticed)

“I came with them, but teleported in when Two started banging on the door.” Five shifts an accusing glare over to their brother.

Diego rolls his eyes, “Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t even want to come, so I was trying to get this over with.”

“Well, you all see that I’m fine, so you don’t have to stay any longer.” Vanya tried not to sound too pushy, but as the clock ticks down to when Leonard is supposed to be home, she starts to get a little irritable.

“For once, I agree with you. Let’s go.” Diego starts walking toward the front door, but Allison halts him.

“Wait, but we traveled all this way to see you, can’t we stay just a little bit longer?” Allison suggests, making Diego groan.

“Maybe another time, I mean, I’m busy making dinner right now so- “Vanya attempts to reason, her statement being cut off by the eldest of the group.

“We could always stay for dinner. Leonard wouldn’t mind, would he?” Five questions with a smirk on his face that contrasts the seriousness in his eyes.

Vanya stammers a quick reply, “Well, he wouldn’t, but Diego doesn’t want to stay here, right?”

They all shut their attention over to Diego, who looks contemplative.

Finally, he sighs,” I could eat. Plus, I have to drive them back to the house, anyway.”

Allison squeals at the thought of more ‘sibling bonding’ and enters the kitchen, taking a seat at the table with Diego next to her and Five across from them. Vanya would’ve had more time to think of excuses for them to leave were it not for the timer signaling her to take the food out of the oven. Rushing, Vanya mangers to get the food on the plates and sets them down in their respective spots. Just in time, the front door opens again and in comes Leonard. He stops once he enters the living room, looking into the kitchen at the unsuspected guests.

“What is this?” He questions with a smile that Vanya can tell is a facade.

“They came to check up on me and wanted to stay for dinner.” Vanya tried to keep her voice from shaking.

“Alrighty then.” Lenard says simply, taking his place at the head of the table, and giving Vanya the disapproving look she knows all too well.

Vanya follows his lead, finally taking a seat across from him. With her sibling there, Vanya finds it ironic how similar their positions are to that of the ones they had at the table they sat at as children. They begin to eat when Diego is, surprisingly, the one to start the conversation.

“So, uh, are you and Vanya roommates or something?” He asks.

“No, they’re dating. Isn’t that great?” Allison answers him, a warning look not to say anything wrong adorning her features.

“Actually,” Leonard interrupts,” I’m her fiancé now. I proposed to her a few days ago.”

Vanya looks as Allison’s face morphs in surprise and Diego’s eyebrows rise, she glances at Five, his expression is one of disgust as he picks at his food.

“Wow, congratulations. I’m happy for you, sis.” Alli tells Vanya, a soft grin playing on her lips.

“ _You’re_ getting married?” Diego inquires, reviving an elbow to the ribs from their curly-haired sister.

Even though she’s slightly offended at the question, she can’t blame him for questioning it, Vanya hardly believes it’s happening herself. The conversation quickly dies down after that and they finish their meals in silence. Dinner is over in a flash, and they all stand saying their goodbyes at the door. Vanya receives a hug from Allison and a nod of the head from Diego (which she thinks is a step up from being completely ignored), but when she gets to Five, he is giving her an intense look. An expression that, if you look hard enough, resembles worry. She understands when he glances from her to Leonard and back to her again, quickly. Vanya just puts her hand on his shoulder and grins shakily. It’s enough for him though, and Vanya watches him walk down the walkway and get into the car, she closes the door as the black vehicle pulls away.

Vanya rushes to the kitchen in an attempt to create distance between Leonard and herself. She turns on the sink faucet, grabbing the dirty dishes from the counter. Vanya turns her back to the kitchen entrance, busying herself, hoping to get on Leonard’s good-side and avoid confrontation. However, her attempt is futile. Footsteps thump loud and fast against the floor, coming as the only warning of her angrily approaching fiancé. Before she knows it, Vanya’s ponytail is yanked, being used to forcefully pull her to the ground. Her head pounds as she looks up at the all to familiar sight of Leonard looming dangerously above her.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” He asks her, but she doesn’t dare answer him.

“Why can’t you ever do as you’re told?” Leonard hisses, picking Vanya up by the collar of her button up.

He forces her to stare into his eyes, his hand tight around the front of her shirt. The swaying lights and rattling dishes don’t gain any attention. Leonard drags her back over to the rapidly filling sink, pushing her stomach against the edge of the counter, harshly.

“You think you can get away with anything now, _don’t you_?” Venom spills from Leonard’s words as he pushes her forward, forcing her to bend over.

Vanya begs as her face hovers over the almost overfilled sink. She knows they go unanswered as Leonard’s other hand presents itself on the back of her head. Her tears drip into the water, her soft begs turning into screams of fear and agony. A light breeze fills the room, the slight quacking of the house getting fiercer by the second.

“I’ll just have to show you what happens when you fuck with me.”

That’s the last thing Vanya hears before a weight shoves her head into the water. She tries to fight against the arms that hold her under, but to no avail. Her screams create bubbles that pop when the hit the surface. Her struggling intensifies when she feels that she can no longer hold her breath.

_I’m going to die_ , Vanya thinks, _he’s going to kill me._

Darkness begins to deep into her vision, Vanya clenches her eyes shut and balls her hands into fists, ready to try and fight Leonard off one last time. A buzzing sound fills her ears, and just as she pushes against the weight holding her under, the force disappears. Vanya immediately resurfaces from the water, sinking to the floor as the gasps for breath. She coughs up what seems like a liter of water to her dazed state of mind, and rubs her hands over her blurry eyes. Her vision now cleared, Vanya is shocked at what she sees. The table that was once surrounded by chairs is broken in half, the remains of the matching wood chairs broken down and scattered throughout the room. Plates and cups lay shattered on the ground, demolished into almost nothing. The hanging lights swing back and forth hazardously, flickering on and off as they dance.

Vanya can hear the pitter-patter of the water spilling over the sink and onto the floor, but she pays it no mind. Her eyes are fixed somewhere else, because the man that she loves, her fiancé, and the man that held her underwater just mere seconds ago, is sprawled out unconscious in the middle of it all. Frozen in place, Vanya stares at the scene before her.

_What the hell happened?_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 7 is finally complete!  
> This chapter was surprisingly hard to write, and took me three days to finish despite its fairly short length. My perfectionism was getting in the way because this is the turning point in the story and i really wanted to get it right.  
> and finally here it is.  
> As always, chapter 8 will be coming soon if its, hopefully, easier to write. It will be a continuation of what happened in this chapter.  
> I also want to ask if any of you have prompt ideas that you haven't seen before or ones that you have seen, but want to see me add my own twist to, for when this story comes to its end. I have a few, but it wouldn't hurt to add some more to the list.  
> Thank you for checking this fic/chapter out. :)  
> -K


	8. Chapter:8

_ This has to be a dream _

Vanya sits, not having moved an inch from her place on the floor. She doesn’t know how long she had been there gaping at the wreckage in front of her. How can a perfectly clean kitchen transform into a complete mess in just a matter of minutes? Vanya racks her brain for some kind of explanation but comes up with nothing. Her mind is going a mile a minute as she makes her first move.

She puts the palms of her hands against the chilled, wet floor, shaking as she forces herself to crawl towards her future husband. Vanya puts her hand over her mouth to muffle a scream when she sees the damage his body has been through. Bruises cover his arms and face, pieces of wood stick out of his skin, but nothing compares to the large gash on his forehead, which is leaking blood down his face and dripping onto the wood below. She scrambles away from him, feeling sick all of a sudden. She rubs her eyes with trembling hands, trying to think about what to do next. Vanya decides she can’t stay in the house for another second and endure the scene anymore, on the other hand, she also can’t call the cops because she would somehow be blamed for this.

_ Am I to blame? _

Vanya shakes her head at the thought immediately. There was no way she could have done this, she’s just an ordinary girl, she had been told that her whole life, so she couldn’t have done this, right? Everything is getting so jumbled up and confusing. There’s only one thing she feels like she can do. With that in mind, Vanya stumbles to her feet, racing out of the house, leaving everything behind her. She trips over her feet, walking down the nearly empty sidewalks, relying on memory to get her to her destination. 

_ Maybe it was a tornado _ , Vanya thinks, but quickly shuts it down, _ no, it would have affected the whole house if that were the case. _

Shivers racking her body snap her back to reality. She is soaked to the bone as rain pours down from the clouds. 

_ When did it start raining? _

Vanya doesn’t remember seeing rain when she escaped the house, maybe it was a surprise shower. However, rain or no rain, Vanya  _ needs  _ to keep going. She picks up her pace as bystanders send sideways glances in her direction, yet no one stops to help.

At this point Vanya can’t differentiate her tears from the rain droplets splashing onto her face. Exhaustion is quickly setting in, slowing her down, her feet dragging slightly against the pavement. Vanya refuses to stop. She keeps moving, pushing her legs to work for a little longer, until finally she’s there. She looks up at the huge building towering over her, but for once, she miles at the sight of it. Opening the front gates, she eventually allows herself to look back down the path she was just on. The rain has lightened to drizzle, and lampposts we’re bent and flickering, reminding her of the flashing lights she had left behind in her own home.

Vanya grips the railing of the stairs, pulling her tired body up each step until she is face to face with the front door. She pulls on the handle, but the door doesn’t budge. Locked. Vanya really doesn’t have time for this, so, in sheer desperation, she begins ponding on the door; hoping that  _ anyone _ is home, just this once, to let her in. Thankfully, she hears the click of the lock, sighing in relief as the door creaks open. It’s Allison, standing in the doorway wearing a concerned expression, and Vanya feels like sobbing out of happiness.

“Vanya? Are you ok?”

Vanya wants to reply back, to tell her that she is alright, but she can’t seem to find the energy to as she falls to her knees, Allison’s arms jolting out to keep her upper body up.

“Woah! Wants going on? What happened?” Allison’s voice is loud in her ears, Vanya’s silent cries are preventing word from forming a reply.

Vanya feels another pair of arms loop around her torso, causing her to freak out.

“Hey Van-Van, it’s just me.” Klaus’ soft voice soothes her brief panic.

Allison and Klaus work together, lifting Vanya up from the ground, half dragging and half carrying her into the living room, where the set her down on the couch. Allison kneels in-front of her, while Klaus stands close behind, looking back and forth between his two sisters and the empty space next to him.

“Van, can you please tell me what’s wrong.” Her sister asks again, getting the same result as before.

Vanya continues to sit quietly, her anxiety building; her sobs are choking her up, making it difficult to breath. Allison grabs ahold of her hand and looks down at it in shock.

“You’re freezing.” She says, getting up, retrieving a blacker so fast it’s almost like she didn’t leave at all. “Why are you soaking wet?”

Still not getting an answer, Alli looks back at Klaus for help.

“Um...okay,” He says, taking his sisters place in front of Vanya,” come on V, what’s going on?”

Vanya just continues to shake, her mouth opening and closing, trying to force words out of her mouth.

“Maybe we should call Leonard. He might know what’s going on.” Allison suggests to Klaus, thinking up ways to fix the situation at hand.

_ Leonard _

Vanya squeezes her eyes shut, fighting off the nauseous feeling associated with the name. She feels like she can barely breath, her hands gripping the blanket in tight fists. Her head begins to pound. Everything sounds abnormally loud. The ticking of the clock, honking horns of the cars outside, heavy footsteps walking upstairs, the whistle of a kettle down in the kitchen. It’s all starting to get unbearable. Vanya can feel something build within her, like a pressure needing to be released, getting worse with every passing second. She can feel herself losing any sense of control that she had on her body and emotions. Without meaning to, out of pure exhaustion, she lets it go.

It’s a strange sensation to Vanya, sort of like an out of body experience. She opens her eyes and meets the terrified faces of her brother and sister, but neither of them are focused on her. They are staring in fear as the house quakes, causing things to fall from their rightful homes on shelves and tables. The books from the bookshelf fall open onto the floor, following father’s collection of glass figurines that are now completely shattered.

“What the bell is going on?” Vanya can just barely hear Luther shout, his voice being muffled by the constant ringing in her ears.

Vanya would like to know the answer to that herself, but stays silent. Just like when they were kids, where one sibling goes the others follow, and soon Diego and Five are amongst the group of confused siblings.

“Are you crazy?” Diego’s biting tone transfers through Vanya’s muffled hearing. “We need to take cover.”

Surprisingly, they all agree without putting up a fight. Numbers One and Two take their shelter in the doorway of the living room, while Three, Four, and Five move the chairs from the bar to use the ledge of the counter to cover their heads. Vanya wants to move, but finds herself in a paralyzed-like state. It’s not until Allison comes, wrapping her arms around Vanya, heaving her to her feet, that Vanya gets the strength to move. Taking tiny but quick steps, Vanya makes it under the counter, sandwiched between Klaus and Allison.

Oddly, even amidst the chaos, Vanya feels safe. The warmth radiating off of her siblings is comforting, and Vanya notices herself calming down. The shakiness of her hands diminish into only a slight tremble, her heart beat slows down, and the weight on her chest lifts a little. She closes her eyes once again, breathing through her nose, and almost like magic, her world quiets down again. The awful sounds filling her head are lessened and the quacking under her stops completely, and Vanya is at peace. However, that peace is short lived as she peels  her eyes open, taking in an all too familiar sight.

_ It can’t be... _

Vanya gets to her feet, surveying the wreckage in astonishment. Her sibling follow her lead, coming out of their safe places.

“Since when do we get earthquakes here?” Allison asks, puzzled.

_ This can’t be happening... _

“ _ I’ve  _ never experienced any, let alone one that big.” Diego answers, being one of the only ones who stayed in the city after leaving the academy.

“That’s what he said.” Klaus replies absentmindedly, earning a sharp look from their brother.

_ What have I done? _

Vanya looks around, mind flashing back and forth between the home that she left in shambles and the one she is in now. Unable to stand anymore, she plops down on the couch, vision blurring with unleashed tears. She puts her head in her hands, trying to avert another panic attack  from occurring, muttering reassurances to herself. 

“Vanya?” Five’s voice snaps the rest of the siblings attention toward their tiny sister.

_ Oh god... _

With a realization, Vanya’s resolve shatters. Her silent tears turn into agonizing sobs, almost being drowned out by the rain hitting heavily against the windows, abruptly.

“Seven,” Luther tries to get her attention using his ‘leader voice’, making Number Two roll his eyes,” what’s going on?”

The room falls silent with the exception of their sisters violent cries and chocking breaths, all of them wanting an explanation for various reasons. Vanya lifts her head up, red rimmed eyes meeting the looks of her brothers and sister. With her hair still dripping wet, her body giving periodical quivers, and her face wet with tears, she opens her mouth.

“I killed him.” Vanya says, distraught. “I’m a murderer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took so long to write and upload. I had started writing this chapter a day or two after uploading last chapter, but stuff happened and I didn't have time to finish it until recently. Hopefully chapter 9 will come along quicker, but with school starting on Monday I might not be able to post again until after this coming week.   
> Anyway, thank you for reading this chapter and, of course, you can still send me prompts that you would like to see written.  
> -K :)


	9. Chapter:9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 2020 everyone! Sorry about the long wait. You can see the note at the end of chapter 10 for more information. :)

The stillness in the room is almost unbearable.

Vanya basks in the silence, waiting for her words to sink in. As her gaze sweeps over the stunned faces of her siblings, Vanya imagines the different scenarios that could happen after they snap out of their trances. She expects them to treat her like all the criminals they have encountered before, to restrain her and send her to prison without a second thought. She wouldn't blame them for it, though. She killed a man, the man she’s supposed to love and cherish for the rest of her life. She’s a  _ monster _ .

Vanya expects the worst. Yelling, anger, disgust; she expects them to kick her out and tell her to never show her face again. However, Vanya doesn’t anticipate the sharp laugh that escaped Diego’s mouth, bringing the silence to a halt. Everyones eyes turn to him in surprise at the sudden outburst.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. This has to be a joke.” Two says, dry cackles leaving his lips after every other word.

“What?” Vanya whispers, confused.

“I mean really,” Diego continues, “out of all the people in this room, you are the last person that would have the balls to off someone.”

Vanya looks down at her hands resting in her lap as Diego goes on, cackling like he had just heard the funniest joke in the world. She feels the couch dip beside her, and Allison’s perfectly manicured hand covers her own.

“Vanya, what do you mean?” Alli softly questions her.

“I’m a monster.” Vanya tries to explain, “I killed him.”

She looks down in shame, still distraught about what she has done.

“Killed who?” Luther asks, seriously.

Vanya swallows down the bile that’s crawling up her throat and answers.

“Leonard.”

Diego’s light laughter dies down immediately, the room becoming eerie as everyone's eyes fixate on their shivering sister. Allison tightens her grip on Vanya’s hand in reassurance, gaining her sisters attention back.

“Can you tell us what happened?”

“I’m not really sure, it all happened so fast.” Vanya breaths out, “We were having an argument, everything became so loud, then the next thing I know, the kitchen is a complete mess. Everything was broken and I just...”

Vanya pauses, shaking her head in disbelief.

“I just don’t understand.” She continues, bringing her hands up to cover her face.

Allison wraps her arms around her sister in comfort, with Klaus following suit not long after. No one moves or makes a sound as their sister’s sobs filled the room. Vanya rubs at her face, wiping the remaining tears away. 

“I’m sorry.” Vanya began, “I didn’t want to involve all of you, but I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go.”

Vanya looks up at all of her siblings to gauge their reactions, thinking she is going to see anger and resentment, but the only looks she receives are ones of horror and shock. They are staring at her, eyes wide and mouths open, all except for Five, whose lips are twisted into a disgusted snarl.

“Vanya…” Allison whispers out, her sad eyes meeting Vanya’s confused ones.

“What the fuck is this?” Diego snaps.

Before Vanya can react, he is reaching out, pressing his thumb into a tender spot on her cheek, causing her to wince in discomfort. Realizing what was going on, Vanya quickly reaches up to cover the spot with her hand.

_ Shit _ , She curses herself,  _ the makeup must have washed off. _

“well,” Diego continues his questioning, “who the hell did this to you, huh?”

Vanya doesn’t answer, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, as another argument breaks out between her siblings.

“Two,” Luther interrupts, “Seven just admitted to murder, they’re probably self defense woulds.”

“Oh, bullshit!” Diego thunders, “That bruise is way to old and discolored to have happened last night and you know it.”

“Anyway,” Two continues, “I still don’t believe that  _ Seven _ , of all people, could kill someone, let alone her own  fiancé.”

Diego turns back to Vanya, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It...it was an accident.” Vanya stutters her reply, “All of you know how clumsy I can be, shit happens.”

In Vanya’s mind, it’s the perfect lie. Throughout their childhood, it was no secret that she was, what Diego referred to her as, a walking disaster. Falling down stairs, burning herself on stoves, for someone who was never aloud on missions, she had her fair share of injuries under her belt. Vanya is sure that the topic would be swept under the rug, but of course, nothing is ever that simple.

“Clumsy? Really Vanya?” Five speaks up startling her, “If that is true, then why is the bruise on your throat the shape of a hand?”

Vanya looks at him in astonishment. Slender fingers, she realizes belong to Klaus, pull her hair out of the way to get a better view of her throat. There it is, just as discolored as the one on her cheek, the finger shaped bruises standing out against her pale skin. Gasps of shock and sharp curses erupt from her siblings mouths.

“You knew about this?” Diego accuses Five.

Five stays silent, his gaze still burning holes in Vanya.

Taking his silence as a ‘yes’, Diego continues, “Why didn’t you tell us? Who did this to her?”

“I can’t answer your questions. It isn’t my secret to tell.” Five answers, passively.

“Vanya,” Five addresses her, causing her to look up, “just tell them the truth, it’s going to be o.k.”

Vanya felt frozen to her spot, as if moving one muscle would reveal the secrets she has kept all this time. The expectant stares hr siblings are sending her, make her anxiety grow second by second. The sound of her heavy breathing echoing in the quiet room, finally being disturbed by Allison’s calming voice.

“Ok, I’m sure this experience has been tiring for everyone, especially Vanya, so why don’t we all just take a break for the night and sleep here so we can talk more in the morning?” She suggests.

Everyone nods in agreement, exhaustion setting in.

“Good,” Alli continues, “Van, I know this has been a lot for you, and since your room was demolished to make an extension to Klaus’, you can take Luther’s room for the night. He’ll just take the couch.”

Luther looks like he was going to protest, but is cut short by Allison’s glare. Everyone heads to their respective rooms for the night, attempting to process the new information with each step.

Tomorrow will come with a new set of problems, but tonight they will sleep in peace.


	10. Chapter:10

Sunlight streams through the open curtains, shining against the model airplanes hanging above her.

Vanya’s limbs feel weighed down by boulders. Her mind replaying the night before on repeat. Her eyes bloodshot from her tears and lack of sleep. It’s not like she hadn’t tried to close her eyes and get some rest, every time she did the image of her beloved  fiancé lying unconscious burned its way to the front of her mind, filling her with guilt and shame. He is all she can think about as she cowers in the stillness of Luther’s childhood bedroom.

She had left him there.

That’s what is eating Vanya up the most. She is supposed to love Leonard, through thick and thin, but she left him lying in a pool of water, in the middle of the damaged kitchen. She should have helped him, or at least could have called for an ambulance before she left. She was afraid and wasn’t thinking.

_ I should turn myself in _

Vanya ponders the thought. Maybe if she faces her crimes, her guilty conscience will ease up. No, it’ll just get worse as the news spreads through the country. However, guilty conscience or not, it’s the right thing to do.

With that in mind, Vanya forces herself p from the bed and onto her feet. She makes her way to the door, muffled voices get louder as she swings it open. Vanya has no doubt in her mind that the loud argument coming from just down the stairs, are her brothers and sister trying to figure out what to do about her. 

_ Maybe they’ll kill you, like they did to all the bad guys as they fought as kids _ , the condescending voice fills her head.

_ It’s not like you don't deserve it. _

Vanya squeezes her eyes shut, willing the voice to shut up, and continues slowly down the staircase. Standing in the middle of the foyer, are Allison, Luther, and Diego. The scene is almost identical to the one days before, but this time it seems to be Allison and Diego vs. Luther, instead of all of them fighting against each other. Five is off to the side, sitting in a spare chair, his head buried in his hands and his foot tapping impatiently against the floor. Klaus is leaning against the banister, legs stretched out in front of him on the last stair.

Not wanting to get more involved that she already is, Vanya decides her best bet is to seat herself next to Klaus who, for once, is the silent one of the group. This plan backfires as soon as she makes her presence known to the  séance, he sits up quickly, clearing his throat loud enough to gain the unwanted attention of her other 4 siblings. Luther and Diego go back to glaring daggers at each other, but Five and Allison’s demeanors change instantly. Allison’s expression consists of sad eyes and pitying smiles, while Five looks at her expectantly, like he’s waiting for her to spill everything to her other siblings. Both are unbearable to look at, so Vanya casts her gaze to the ground instead. 

“Hey.” Allison’s soft voice floats through the air.

“Sorry, we didn’t mean to leave you out, we just thought it would be best to let you sleep.”

“It’s fine,” Vanya mumbles, still avoiding eye contact.

“well, now that everyone’s here, we can get back to investigating.” Luther says, taking the role of the leader, again.

“Investigating? Seriously?” Two deadpans, “This isn’t a meaningless investigation, this involves our  _ sister _ , when are you going to stop playing daddy's little soldier and realize that?”

“Can you two not do this today, please?” Allison interrupts.

“Actually, I agree with Luther.” is a statement that no one expected to come out of Five’s mouth, but in this very moment, it did.

He continues, “I mean, yes, this does involve our sister, but isn’t that a reason to investigate further and get all of the facts on the table so we don’t leave anything out?”

None of them say a word, knowing what Five said is true. They all think about the situation at hand and what they can do.

“Alright,” Diego caves, “we should start by questioning Vanya again and get as much information as we can.”

He then turns to address Vanya directly, ”Is that alright with you?”

Vanya takes a moment to think, before reluctantly nodding in agreement.

“Ok, tell us what you remember from last night.”Diego says, taking a seat on the floor in front of her, followed by the rest of them.

And so Vanya did.(Or she at least told them what they wanted to hear.)

She explains the noises growing loud in her ears, the buzzing in her head, and the aftermath of the shaky ground and the heavy winds. However, she leaves out how their fight started, the way Leonard forcefully held her head under the water, and all of the other times he used force against her. Vanya told herself that she deserved it, so what is the point in telling. This, however, doesn't get passed her siblings, who ask about Five’s statements last night and the bruises still present on her skin. She simply repeats the fib she had told the previous night.

“I already told you guys,” She says, “I’m just clumsy.”

Vanya can feel Fives disapproving stare and her other sibling’s skeptical looks as she lies to their faces, but Leonard told her never to tell and now that he’s gone, Vanya feels the need to keep that promise to him.

“Alright, last question,” Diego sighs, “ what did you do with his body?”

Vanya senses the familiar feeling of tears stinging her eyes as she answers.

“I panicked. I didn’t know what to do, so I just left him there, on the floor.” She hides her face in her hands.

Standing tall, Luther speaks to the team of ex-child superheroes.

“We need to head over to the house and survey the scene before someone sends out a missing person’s report and the police show up themselves.”

The others express their agreements, and Vanya can’t help but perk up slightly.

“I can take you there.” She offers, “I’ll show you everything.”

The rest of the group look at her reluctantly.

“Van,” Klaus says, hesitantly, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. You were pretty messed up about it last night.”

“Please,” Vanya begs, “I won't touch anything. I- I just need to see him one last time. I have to tell him I’m sorry.”

Vanya needs this. The heavy feeling that has been weighing on her is driving her crazy. She needs to find a way to release some of the tension.

“Fine,” Luther gives her a warning look, resembling one that a parent would give a misbehaving child, “but you can’t mess with anything.”

They start to file out of the mansion and pile into a truck that she hasn’t seen before. Vanya feels a presence hovering next to her and turns her head to find Five standing close.

“You can’t keep what that bastard was doing to you a secret forever.” Five grumbles.

Vanya knows he’s right. Once this ‘investigation’ is over, her siblings will be able to focus more on her bruises and how they came about, but for now, she feels secure in their ignorance about her relationship with Leonard. 

Vanya can’t do anything but send him a rueful smile as she hops into the back of the truck with Luther and Klaus, Five following behind and closing the doors.

The drive to Vanya’s once shared home is long and eerie. However, nothing compares to the tension suffocating the Hargreeves, as they stand in front of Vanya’s house, each of them not wanting to be the first one to go in.

Vanya takes initiative, walking forward, her heart pounding in her chest and her fingertips tingling as she touches the door handle, from the faint feeling overcoming her. The door is still unlocked, she finds, turning the handle with ease. She steps in, her family following close behind. She can see the light in the next room still flickering. The sick feeling returns to her stomach as she leads them further into the house, closer to her deceased  fiancé. Vanya closes her eyes, letting her feet move with the memory of the house layout. 

Then she’s there.

She can hear the splashing of water under her shoes, she’s already saying her apologies like a prayer in her head as she opens her eyes to take in the scene that she had left behind the night before. When her vision focuses, her whole world stops.

She feels like she’s choking on air, unable to breathe.

The water is still covering the floor, the table and chairs splintered, the plates and cups smashed nearly to dust.

The wreckage is still present, but Leonard’s body is no longer among it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry about the long wait. Whoever told me senior year would be easy lied, because first semester kicked my butt. Thankfully, second semester is way easier and hopefully I'll be able to finish this fic before the end of the school year.  
> As always, you can leave fic prompts that you would want to see in the comments and please review and help me get better as a writer.   
> Thank you <3  
> -K

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed chapter one of this fic. This is the first fanfic I have ever written, and was slightly nervous about actually posting it. I already have chapter 2 done, and chapter 3 is on its way. This fic is, also, not Beta read so constructive criticism is very welcome and appreciated. Anyway, thank you for reading:) <3  
> -K


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